


The End of a Long Road of Sacrifices

by redlionspride



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, Identity Issues, M/M, Manipulation, Minor Violence, Prompt Fill, Sacrifice, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 12:56:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5968114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redlionspride/pseuds/redlionspride
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I will finish what you started…” Kylo said to his grandfather's old burnt helmet. "...when you killed the Emperor. I will finish and destroy the Sith lords once and for all." </p><p>Ben Solo had long ago been taken by Snoke, but not before he, his father Han Solo and his uncle Luke devised a plan. A very long and painful plan. </p><p>A retelling of the 'bridge' scene with internal thoughts about what was 'really' going on and the story about what happens AFTER Starkiller Base fell. </p><p>A story of how Ben "Kylo Ren" Solo attempts to kill Supreme Leader Snoke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The End of a Long Road of Sacrifices

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! I hope you enjoy this one. It's a bit different then the other things I have wrote, but I had a lot of fun with it and I hope you do too! Thank you for all the encouraging comments on my other fictions. They've helped me keep this amazing writing mojo going! 
> 
> This fic is another tfa_kinkmeme fill! Basically the prompt asked for "Secretly Resistance!Kylo Ren killing Snoke then returning to the resistance while taking Hux and Phasma with him as hostage. I'd say that the characterizations are possibly slightly off from what the OP asked, but I hope it's not too far off.  
> Found Here!:  
> http://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org/2821.html?thread=4167941#cmt4167941
> 
> Please enjoy!

“I will finish what you started…” Kylo said through a deep filtered mask to his grandfather's old burnt Sith helmet. _’...when you killed the Emperor. I will finish and destroy the Sith lords once and for all.’_ He thought to himself, privately, even in his own private room. 

It had taken this long but it was time. 

The Starkiller Base had built up and finished. He hadn’t been ready when it had destroyed the Hosnian Prime system, a loss that he felt a great disturbance in the Force with. One that nearly bowled him over with grief. But there was nothing he could do about it. In truth, the final stages of this plan seemed to be the worst part of everything. 

He wasn’t sure he could go through with it. 

He didn’t know how it would play out, but he had spent years here. _Years_ to gain the Supreme Leader's trust, and this would do it. He hated this plan, but it had to be done. He had to kill his father to gain the leaders trust. He knew it. Han knew it. Master Luke knew it. He doesn’t know who else knew it, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t many. 

While in search of the new ‘awoken threat’ is when it happened. 

“ _BEN!!_ ” He heard the man call, his heart stopping almost immediately. He hadn’t heard his father's voice in… years. He turned to look at the man, shocked by the years and years placed in his face and posture. He had aged, so very much. 

“Han Solo. I’ve been waiting for this day for a very long time.” He spoke, cool and calm, not at all betraying the beating heart that raced a parsec a millisecond in his chest. 

He watched as the man started to come closer. Something inside his chest begged for him to turn away. That there had to be a better way. “Take off that mask.” His father demanded. “You don’t need it.”

He needed it. He needed it so badly right now. But he had taken years to prepare for this. There were eyes everywhere. Stormtroopers near by watching in curious, morbid horror. “What do you think you’ll see if I do?” His voice said in a deep dark tone flat and emotionless. 

“The face of my _son_ ” Solo replied in honesty. 

He didn’t want to. Force be, did he not want to, but he reached both hands up, unhooked the helmet and lowered it to the side. The extreme heavy weight of the helmet felt good as it came off his head, but so heavy to hold. More heavy than it ever felt before. 

Gravely, he spoke. “Your son… is gone. He was weak and foolish like his father. So I destroyed him.” Sometimes he had worried that it was true. Sometimes Snoke felt too strong for him. Like he would find out, that he had allowed himself too close to the Dark Side. That he had gone too far. Killed too many. The first few deaths had weighed so heavy on him, but it was needed. He knew he’d never make up for all those deaths though. 

Han was moving closer slowly, talking as he went. Ben… wasn’t sure if he was acting anymore or if he was truly concerned. If he had forgotten the plan, or if he was just an amazing actor. “That’s what Snoke wants you to believe, but it’s not true. My son is alive.” 

Ben’s chest burned. The closer his father got the harder this was. His eyes burned, but he fought back tears. “No. The Supreme Leader is _wise_.” He said, sounding almost haunted, brainwashed, hollow. Sometimes he felt so hollow inside. It was the only way he could make it through the day let alone the life. 

The tone his father took struck him in the heart. “Snoke is using you for your power! When he gets what he wants he’ll crush you. You know it’s true.” 

Oh how he knew it was true. So very true. His eyes welled more, honest conflicted emotions. He doesn’t want to do this. “It’s too late.” Sometimes he really did feel like it was too late. Like they waited too long. Like he hadn’t done his part fast enough. After all those planets were destroyed he was sure he had lost. Lost himself as well. 

“No, it’s not. Leave here with me. Come home. We miss you.” 

No. No. Why did he have to say that? The struggle was already so hard as it was. He could see Uncle Chewie right over there. The others were near as well. And his father. Right here in front of him. His mother, was she all right? Did she know? Would she understand? If… if he made it out alive, would she still love him? 

All of those emotions and feelings he had tampered down and hidden under the force. Something Uncle Luke taught him when they realized what was happening to him. When they realized Snoke had tried to get hold of him as a child, as a teen. He had been so angry for so long. His mother sent him away to his Uncle and he was SO mad about it. But then they figured it out. And he trained. Trained to hide what he was and build himself up as something else. 

He trained so hard. 

When he came to Snoke he ended up going through such hell. All the pain and torture and training and hate and anger. It was all real. It made it easier to forget who he really was sometimes. It made it simpler. It made it so he could lose himself to the dark side. 

How he missed them though. 

The tears were real now, standing so close to his father, not even realizing how close he had gotten. _I can’t do this,_ he thought to the other man, almost pleading. “I’m… being torn apart.” he said on a breath, unsure how to tell him he didn’t want to do this anymore. The words he said now were all the truth. “I want to be free of this pain. I… know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” Every word… honest. _Father… please. I don’t want to do it._

“Will you help me?” He said, almost choking on the words. 

“Yes. Anything.” He said it so sure. So positive. Han knows the plan. He’d been ready for this. He knew how this was to work, but Ben doesn’t want to do it. It hurt too much already. 

He goes through the motions though, the helmet falling from his hand so heavy that it echos in the long chamber. That damn helmet that he has used to hide behind for so damn long. 

Ben couldn't breath as his hand slid back, taking out the lightsaber, an old design, angry and jagged when turned on. He didn’t want to turn it on. He held it out with both hands, as if offering it to the man. In his mind, all he wanted to do is hand it over and run now. Be done with this, but… he knew he couldn’t. That wasn’t the plan. All those years of lies and pain and torture. All those lives lost just to make this work. 

He looked to his father as the man’s hand came out to take the blade in the middle, as if he understood the boy was stopping. If anyone was watching, it might look as if Kylo Ren turned the lightsaber in on Han, but in reality, Han Solo turned it in on himself. 

Ben’s eyes were almost pleading. He didn’t want to do this.

The sun suddenly went out. 

They’re running out of time. 

The light in the room dimmed to just the emergency lights. His face and his father’s were shrouded in red. An ominous feeling indeed. 

His father’s eyes were sad, tired, but ready. He knows those eyes. He last saw them when he was young, when the plan was set. When he had to say goodbye to the men he loved and not at all able to say anything to his mother. He wondered how badly it had hurt her. If they told her what was going on, there was a chance Snoke would have learned. Luke, and his school took off and went into hiding. The old Jedi Temple that Tekka had helped them find. The map lost so they couldn’t he hunted down. 

He wondered how badly his mother took it all. 

Ben almost opened his mouth to plead, to tell his father he can’t do it, but then he felt it, Han’s hand turning just right, flicking the switch at his thumb. The red light around them suddenly intensified and he watched the pain cross his father's face. The shock of it all. 

He could hear screaming in the distance. Someone yelling ‘No!’ echoing the scream in his mind, in his chest. He could hear Uncle Chewie’s cry as if he were miles away. The blood rushing through his ears right then was deafening. His hand moved to quickly shut off the blade, jerking it back out of the other's hand, staring at him. 

He nearly lost it when his father’s hand reached up to touch his face. The kindest touch in his recent life, and it was his father’s hand of forgiveness. The look on his face, telling Ben he did a good job. That it would be worth it. 

Forgiveness. 

Ben wasn’t sure if he was breathing anymore. He watched his father slip, felt his hand pull away from his face. He should have grabbed for him, but he felt in shock. The man slipped over the edge of the bridge, tumbling away in an instant. 

There was suddenly chaos around him, but his mind raced, broken for the moment, not at all sure what to do. There was some place inside his chest, in his mind, that the light dimmed a bit, exactly like Snoke wanted, but it wasn't the last of the light. It was just what he had left to display. 

Suddenly he felt himself drop to a knee, a bolt of energy struck him low in the side, which knocked him over and the wind out of him. For the briefest of moments he wanted the bolt to knock him off the platform, to let him die as well, but again, that would ruin everything. Darkness was actually attempting to take over. Rage filled him. He looked up to see the two young ones. The traitor and the awaken girl. 

They turned to run. 

He stood to run after them, bleeding as he went along. 

Kylo Ren was back in control, not at all thinking, because this was just part of the job. Part of what Snoke had wanted. Get the girl. It would bring him the last step closer to meeting him face to face. 

\----------

In the end he lay in the snow, bleeding, his lightsaber broken, a rift breaking between him and the girl. He could have easily jump over after her. Chased her down. Try and grab her. But he was so out of it, and his heart was so dark at the moment, that he wasn’t sure he COULD move again. 

He wasn’t sure what the hell happened.

Before he realized it, someone is standing over him. 

“Get the hell up, Ren! This planet is going to blow and you’re lying here bleeding in the damn snow?!” 

Hux. 

The General. 

_His_ General, if he had anything to say about it. In the last few years that he had been assigned to the _Finalizer_ , he had become… attached to the man. One of the very few connections he had made. That Kylo Ren had made, at least. The man was terrible, but it wasn’t all his fault. He had learned that through great pressure from the man’s father, he had been raised this way, much like Stormtroopers were raised and conditioned to believe the First Order was the correct path to follow. That the rebels and New Republic had it out for the universe. That the First Order literally were trying to bring peace to the galaxy. That the Emperor was a saint and his servant Vader was murdered by Skywalker. 

Ben knew the truth. Kylo learned the lies with ease. 

He felt strong hands reach down and grab him by his arms, making him hiss as one arm was wounded. His face burned, the cauterized wound running across it. He nearly lost that eye, didn’t he? 

Captain Phasma lifted him up, and as Kylo started to stumble to move, she swooped in and picked him up, starting to follow Hux. A transport near by, which they took no time in speeding off to a shuttle and getting off planet. Almost too late. 

\----------

On the shuttle, having jumped to hyperspace, they weren’t going to the _Finalizer_. The ship had been ordered to go to his next station to hide while the Shuttle holding the three top ranking officers in it went to Snoke’s secret location. 

This was it. Snoke had ordered Hux to come to him and to bring Ren. 

This was everything they had been waiting for. 

Kylo Ren lay in a bed on the shuttle, one eye closed where the slash across his face burned and ached. His other eye stared blankly at the white ceiling above. 

“Pull yourself together, Ren.” Hux said in a hiss of a voice, stepping inside the room and letting the door close behind him. He had a small kit with him for first aid, a bottle of water and a small pan of water with a rag in it. 

Kylo watched him as he came closer and sat everything down. He had never seen Hux with anything nearing medical supplies before. Each item was sat down and carefully placed. The bottle of water was uncapped right in front of him, so he could see it, then capped again once the seal was broken, moving the bottle to rest in Ren’s hand. 

“Sit up.” Hux ordered, through the command was softer than normal. Kylo scowled, because even if he didn’t mind too much, he did hate being given orders, especially from Hux. He hated it more when Hux gave him orders in the bedroom, but that was neither here nor now. That had always been a mistake, hadn’t it? 

He sat up however, frowning at the other. It hurt; hurt to move. It hurt to breath. He didn’t realize just how messed up he was right now. 

Hux reached out to start pulling at the black blood soaked robes. Undoing belts, buckles and basically undressing the knight, as he had done before, but this time with a bit more care because the other was so wounded. When the now black rags were removed, leaving the other in pants and boots, he actually assisted Ren to lay back down.

The wound on his shoulder was done by a lightsaber, and thus cauterized. The same with a slash on his leg and face. The side however, that was a mess. It surprised him that Hux was actually taking care of the wound. He had seen the man pale at the sight of his own blood, yet here he was cleaning and tending to this wound. A shot injected into the skin killed and numbed the pain. Had his reflexes with the Force, even without realizing it, not kicked in, that bow-caster shot would have killed him. It had killed lesser men. 

Uncle Chewie must not have been in on the plan.

He also must not have been aiming to kill, as he knows the wookie was a damn good shot with that thing. 

Had the act been so well done? 

Kylo winced, feeling after some time the others hand working on stitches. 

“He’s going to kill us, you know.” Hux said in a flat tone of voice, pulling a stitch through. “Or he’ll kill me, at least.” He sounded reserved in his thoughts on this. Like he had given it thought at all and knew this was his last leg. 

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t.” Kylo said, staring at the redhead now. The pale skin, the freckles that hid just under it all. His hazel eyes trained, flatly, emotionlessly on the wound he worked on. 

“There is no way for you to control that, Ren.” The General said, just as emotionless. Like he was giving up because he knew his fate. 

“Let me go first. Let me talk to him first. I was partly successful in my mission. In my training. It will please him enough to spare you.” He said, hoping that instead he could finish the job without Hux being caught up in it at all. 

“You know that’s not going to work.” The man said with a snort, hazel eyes looking over Kylo’s face, almost like he was memorizing the new map. The new scar to trace. Not that he would be able to now. Not that he wanted to (but he did). 

“But it might. Trust… trust me, for a change.” Kylo wasn’t sure if it was him talking now, or Ben. It felt like Ben, which was bad. He couldn’t let his true self out, not when they were this close. Though all of this, Ben had actually grown to LIKE Hux. To like the stern and rigid man who controlled this branch of the First Order. 

He had learned, over time, that Hux was built this way. Conditioned to obey orders, to give orders, to kill with no remorse. It was the day that he had found Hux sitting in the dark in his office, staring at his hands as if they had blood on them that he realized it. The man wasn’t as heartless as he appeared. He had a damned cat for fucks sake. A ginger feline to keep him company. The only form of disorder in his life it seemed. 

He had learned that through all his life he was pushed and pushed and shoved into this position just to make his father proud. If he didn’t make his father proud he was punished. It was a form of conditioning, as far as he was concerned. On a few occasions he had seen the man break. His resolve twist. He had watched the stern man walk away from the bridge as proud and smug as any monster, only to drop into his chair in his office and physically force himself not to pull at his ginger hair in frustration or turmoil. 

The day that Hosnian Prime and the other planets were destroyed was the day Kylo was sure that Hux had finally crossed the line into bitter insane monster-hood. That there could be no returning from that. 

When he found the man later, bandaging his own blooded hand and realized his mirror in the refresher had been broken with his fist, he thought otherwise. There was still somewhere deep inside Hux that… that was still light. 

There was still light within him. 

If the plan went as it should, he was taking Hux with them. 

“You know I trust no one but myself.” Hux said coolly, but there was a mild shake in his hand as he pulled another stitch, starting to close it all up well. “We will see, in the end.” He cut the end and cleaned up the wound, moving to pull his gloves off and pull on fresh ones. Starting to dress the wound. 

Kylo said nothing, just stared at the ultra cool and emotionless face of the other, except he could see past all that. He could feel it as well, vibrating through the very air and the Force. When his torso had been wrapped and tightened up once again he let out a breath, frowning at the other. 

Hux leaned forward and gave a half glare at the other, pausing in his motion to work on the man's face. “What?” 

“Nothing.” Kylo said, hearing the tone of his own voice. Ben. It was Ben that was showing right now. Ben was in a bad state. He lost his father. He’s off to face his possible death, and he’s losing his identity slowly. He felt vulnerable, and here was Hux, trying to fix him up, looking just as vulnerable in his own way. 

“Then don’t look at me like that.” The General said flatly, then moved to wash over the Knights face, cleaning it first, before pulling up an ointment. 

Ben reached out to still the man’s hand, sitting up with a hiss of pain as he did. 

“Lay back down!” Hux growled as an order, not at all liking the sound of pain the other was in. That too was a sign that Hux was being emotional. 

“No, listen to me.” Ben said, moving to sit up more, turning to hang his legs over the edge of the bed, one between Hux’s and one on the other side of his leg. “I need you to actually listen to me. _Trust_ me. Just this god damn once! I need you to promise to stay back. To let me go first. I can talk him down. I can keep him somewhat happy before he talks to you.” 

“You know it won't work that way, Ren.” There was something about the way that Hux called him Ren that he liked, perhaps because it was so close to his real name.

He felt mad though, reaching out a hand to grip the general's arms, wanting nothing more than to shake him. “Damn it, just… _ONCE_ trust me!” 

Hux, being grabbed, stood up from the stool he had been seated on and pushed both the man's hands away. “It’s not _you_ I don’t trust!” He fired back, just as aggressive! A moment of emotion flickering through his eyes. “You’re being a hopeful idiot if you think you can fix this! Not only did I just completely fail my mission, but an entire decade's worth of work just went out the airlock! You lost your target as well, don’t forget that! What makes you think Snoke is going to go easy on either of us?!” 

Ben had never seen Hux this riled up before. He winced as he moved to stand, one hand pressing over his middle, over the bandages. His legs felt weak, but he ignored it. He had to get his strength back to him before they faced Snoke. “If you trust me then let me do this my way, Hux! Don’t be a fool. There’s no reason for you to go off to your death!” 

That was when Hux snapped. “Why not!?” An arm flung out wide, as if displaying what he was talking about just beside them, gesturing to the planetary system HE destroyed. “Why not, _Kylo!_ Tell me? Why shouldn’t I go off to my death?!” He was practically yelling now, strands of red hair falling over his forehead in his anger, a sign that he really was losing it. 

“Why shouldn’t I let him? I wanted to be _Emperor_! I wanted to rule the system with a fair but firm hand! I didn’t want to _destroy_ , billions upon billions of people to do it! Fear is a great tool for anyone, but there are other ways of doing it! Destroy the New Republic, yes but that’s because they are corrupt! _Corrupt_ and old age. Behind in the times. They allow systems to fall to pirates and federations willing to take what they want. _I_ could have changed that! _I_ could have brought _order_ to it all! That’s what _I_ was _trained_ for! That’s what… what I thought I was working towards!” 

“Instead I helped build a solar powered monster, that I was assured wouldn’t actually be used, or only used in _demonstration_ , but no. No! It was used how they wanted it, and it was _me_ who pulled the trigger! _Me_ who demanded we take out the Resistance. _Me_ who lost the damned weapon to the rebels. It doesn’t matter if there was a flaw in the design, or that a technician fell asleep on the job. It’s _my_ head on the plate. Either Snoke gets his first crack at it, or the heads of the First Order do. _Or_ my _father_ who will literally have no issue in killing me over this!” 

“You tell me to _trust_ you, but you’re in no better shape than I am right now! You’re weak, you're wounded, and you’re about to face the anger of a huge man with a huge plan and neither of us are fitting into it very well right now!” 

“Shut up!” Ben said at his entire rant, growling about it. He’d never seen Hux lose it, but the things he said, the things he was saying brought so many mixed feelings to the Knight. There was remorse, which was something he thought Hux didn’t have anymore. There was conditioning still, about how things seemed from the Empire side of things. His father's teachings, no doubt. 

He had seen it in Stormtroopers as well. Their education about things was very Imperial. When a child is taught that their sky is RED when everyone else is taught that is is BLUE, there is no amount of correction to make that child believe otherwise. When everyone around you agrees that the sky is Red, it clearly must be the truth. When and outsider comes along and tells you otherwise who do you believe, this stranger who knows nothing, or what you have been taught and learned for decades. 

It was the same with Imperial History. When you learn that the Emperor was good and just and ruled with a firm but true hand, you tend not to believe that he wasn’t corrupt. You tend to believe that the Rogue Jedi Master Skywalker had snuck in and murdered the great leader. You don’t learn what is properly right or wrong. 

For Hux, he was having a moment of crisis. Because his actions are wrong, and he knows it. The things that have happened were wrong, and he knows it. And it hurts. He doesn’t know what to do to fix it though. 

Guilt, perhaps. A very heavy guilt. 

“Shut up…” Ben repeated, having got the man's attention for all of a moment, startling him enough to make him stop ranting. “Not everything here is your fault!” 

“You might not believe that, but they will. They will need someone to push this all on and I was the one at the wheel!” Hux protested again, only to suddenly be silenced. 

Ben moved forward to the other man, grabbing hold of one shoulder, and placing his hand at the back of his neck, yanking him forward and up into a kiss. It wasn’t the first time they had kissed. They tended to be angry, aggressive, abrasive, and sometimes painful with teeth smashing and nearly splitting lips. 

Aggression was how these things generally started. Right now it was desperation. He needed Hux on his side, thought he couldn’t tell him what he was about to do. He couldn’t tell him what was going to happen. He just needed him to get his damn head on right again and pull it together. 

Perhaps there was a small moment of need from his own side. He was losing Kylo in the middle of everything, and he couldn’t do that. He felt his natural tendency to the light trying to break out. It came after that shocking battle with the traitor and the girl. It came from what happened out there in the snow as she sent him flying. As she broke his lightsaber and left him there. The dark and anger had been shocked backwards. 

He hoped it wasn’t gone enough that Snoke had already noticed. Not yet at least. He had to get close. 

If he died in there, it would be worth it though, so long as Snoke was dead as well. 

He held the kiss with the man, pleased to feel Hux give into it as well. Ben wanted to believe that there was some form of comfort being taken in it. That there was something that they could both take from it. He didn’t let go of the other for a long moment, feeling the burning need for a proper breath after a while. 

With a small gasp he winced, drawing back, but still holding his hand around the back of the red heads neck. “I need you with me in this, Hux. You don’t deserve to die, anymore then I do.” 

Hux took his own breath, staring up at the taller man with wider eyes, that slowly narrowed, confused. “What’s wrong with you. You’re not acting like your normal self.” He accused instead of saying he would trust in the other. 

“Let’s just say… I’m having a moment of clarity. My training is finishing and things are falling into line.”

With a soft growl, Hux nodded for the man to take a seat again, moving back to the ointment and trying to force Ren to stop moving. “Like I said, it’s not you I don’t trust.” Which, for Hux, was saying a damn lot. 

\----------

It was two days later in which the reached the planet that actually housed Snoke. Ben had been here plenty of times before, but he had never met, face to face with the Supreme Leader. His training had almost always been with someone else, or holo figures. He hoped beyond hope that this was it. That this is what they were waiting for. 

He knew that if he met the man in person he was either going to be made a full born Sith in his eyes, or killed. He has the feeling it will be Killed at this point, but he wasn’t going down without that fight. It didn’t all go down as planned though. He made Hux stay back with the ship, with Captain Phasma. 

He approached his ‘master’ with the darkest heart he could muster. It wasn’t hard. He was angry. He was hurt. He was mad about his father. He was mad about a lot of things, and he used it. He fueled himself with the anger. 

Anger wasn’t the Jedi way, but for over a decade he wasn’t a Jedi. He hadn’t been for a long time. He knew the power of the Dark side and though he wanted to believe he could still bring himself back away from it, he was sure he would never be light sided again. A gray Jedi, maybe, but he wanted that power now. The sith power though anger, passion, emotion. He’d control that as his own. 

When he came to Snoke, it was the real thing. His anger was strong but controlled. The man praised him and demeaned him both in the same sentence. Failure to bring the girl. Praise for the death of his father and the completion of his training. The dark consumed all. 

In truth, even Ben hadn’t noticed that his eyes took on a darker note while he stood there with Snoke. 

In truth, he didn’t notice at all the yellow and black that took over his eyes when Snoke sprang a new surprise on him. The anger surging through him as he watched Captain Phasma bring the General Hux in at blaster point. 

He didn’t notice how the anger really did consume him as he watched Phasma standing there, helmet off, eyes glazed over and staring ahead, blaster down at Hux where she had made him kneel. 

Where Snoke had made her make him kneel. 

Kylo Ren couldn’t remember hearing Snoke’s orders. He didn’t remember hearing anything he said about the man’s failures. About their connection that they could not hide from him. About how the General was a weakness, and weakness needed to be sponged out of his records. That killing his father was now not enough.

That Hux was now a new source of ‘light within’. 

All he heard was an echoing, booming “Kill him” in a old mans decrepit voice. He felt the anger seer through him. The pain shoot through his side wound, surging him forward. One hand reaching out to Snoke, attempting a force choke. The other hand reaching back to grasp at a hidden lightsaber on his belt pulling it forward and activating it.

This one was perfect. A more practiced build. A proper crystal and a brilliant dark blue, darker than a normal blue of a lightsaber.

The force choke didn’t hold as well as he hoped. The Supreme leader sent bolts of electricity at both Hux and Phasma, putting both wrathing on the floor. 

As he moved, lightsaber blazing in attack, he tried to block the bolts himself. 

Ben didn’t know what happened. 

Kylo Ren didn’t remember what happened. 

One moment he felt the pain surge through him, the next moment he fought through it, eyes crackling with electricity burning past the yellow dark eyes of a Sith, lightsaber humming loudly at his ear. All he could see was red and death and destruction. 

When he was done he found himself slumped over the decapitated body of the seven foot tall Supreme leader, his dark blue blade plunged through the center of his back. Even cauterized wounds were so badly sliced into the man that blood still pooled and seeped around the body slowly. 

Kylo’s head hung down between his shoulders, his hand holding his lightsaber so tightly that his knuckles were as white as the dead center of the humming blade. His breath was ragged and his body tingled with energy. His black robes were sindged in places, but he stood there, over the dead body of Snoke, and stared. It was over. He had completed the task at hand. 

“Ren.” A woman called, having said his name a few times now. “Kylo Ren!” Phasma. She was standing, one hand holding her head, the other with her blastered lowered. “We must go. _Ren!_ ” She called, more demanding. 

“What… did… you _do!?_ ” That was Hux. He was on his knees and one hand, the other arm wrapped around his body, still feeling the pain of the shocks to his system. His eyes stared at Kylo as he stood over the dead body, lightsaber still burning through the man’s back. 

Phasma charged forward, lowering the blaster to the floor, hands up in surrender, but coming closer, like she was dealing with a wounded animal. “BEN!” She called sharply, pleased to see that caught the man’s attention, his head lifting to stare at her. “I need you to focus. We’re done here. We need to go.” 

The man just stood there, dark hair wild and all over the place, eyes dark once again, but wide, staring. Phasma? He suddenly looked confused. 

“Come on, Ben. It’s time to go home.” The captain said, her accent strong but there wasn’t a harsh tone to her voice anymore. No clip of demand. Just a soft tone, almost caring. 

“Captain?” Kylo said, staring at her in confusion. 

She pointed down at the body, and the lightsaber. “You did it. You’re done. Turn it off and let’s get you home.” 

The light suddenly went away in the saber in his hand, shut off, hand shaking. He moved to get off and away from the body, stopping feet away from it. His brown eyes wide, his hands suddenly shaking. Ben, once again. He hoped Kylo would be no more. But the burden of a decade or more of being that person, and leading up to this point, and his father's death. All of it, it was shaking him to his very core. 

Phasma came closer, reaching a hand out as if to stabilize him. “Ben, please. We need to go.”

“How do you… how-- _why_!?” He couldn’t comprehend, he just stared at her like she had three heads and called him son. 

“I’m with the Resistance!” She said firmly, pulling on his arm now, to get his feet moving. “Now we need to get out of here before anyone or anything stumbles in on this mess. Let’s go. I can explain in the shuttle if I must.” 

That got Ben moving, walking. Phasma moved to grab her blaster again and started on, past Hux and towards the chamber doors. 

Ben came right to Hux however, who still looked on in utter shock. He reached out to grab the man’s arm, pulling at him to get him to start walking too. “Are you alright?” 

Hux jerked his arm out of the others hand, stepping back, startled. “What the _hell_ have you done, Ren!? Are you out of your damn _mind_?!” He said, voice sounding near panic. 

“Ben! Leave him! Lets _Go!_ ” Phasma called from the other end of the chamber, at the doors, blaster at the ready and looking itchy to go. 

Ben ignored her, reaching to Hux again. “I took care of the problem! That’s it. The First Order is over. Snoke is dead! The tyrant is over. Who ever the hell wants to take over now, let them, but this is done, and we need to go.” 

Hux looked lost and dazed, hand still held over his middle, clearly in pain and shock. “Wait. Wait… you’re with _them?!_ You’re with the _Resistance!?_ ” He sounded so stunned by this, and betrayed. 

“I’m not with the Resistance!” Ben protested suddenly looking firm about this. “I never was. That came after I left. After this. I’m not going to the Resistance. I’m just going home. And even then, it won't be home anymore. I’m… I’m just going. And you’re coming with me.” 

“Are you _mad_!? Do you have any idea what you have done?” Hux said, gasping for another shocked breath. 

“Leave him and let’s go!” Phasma called again, looking impatient now. 

“I’m not _GOING_ without him!” Ben hollered back in annoyance, stepped forward to grab Hux by the wrist and pulled him closer, glaring up at him. “You're coming with us now. Tell them I kidnapped you if you find the need to go back, but I know you. I know you don’t want to be there. I know you don’t like what they have made you do. You want to bring order to the galaxy? Then work with the people trying to do it. Or just come with me somewhere else! Anywhere else! Get away from the Order. Away from your father. Away from Snoke and the residue that will be left of him!” 

He let out a growl, yanking on the man's arm but speaking now, closer to him, almost pleading. “Come with me. _Please_ Hux. Anywhere we want. Away. No one has to know who you are. Just… please, for now, come with me.” 

The General stood, still in shock but… calmer looking, staring at the man as if lost. When Ben pulled on his wrist once more, to encourage him to walk, Hux found himself doing just that. Moving to allow the other to pull him along. He soon picked up the pace with Ben, jogging to catch up to Phasma. To join her on the shuttle and away. 

\----------

On the shuttle and back into Hyperspace, Phasma admitted that she didn’t know where the Resistance was at the moment, but that they needed to make a stop at a medical facility first and it was one she knew of. Resistance aligned. They might have some trouble at first, but it was a needed stop. 

Though Ben said that he was fine, and Hux was managing just fine, so he didn’t understand why they needed the stop at the medical frigate. 

That was when Phasma took them to the cargo hold of the shuttle. Pulling back a hatch the three of them hovered over to look down into a clear cover of a medical status pod. Inside the pod was a frozen figure of Han Solo, a burned hole through his lower chest, a pained expression on his face. 

Ben’s heart fell, eyes watering without even realizing it. His jaw dropped to say something, but it shook with a tremble. Jumping down beside the pod, he looked over the readings. Life signs were critical, but there was still life there. “H-how?” He asked, completely at a loss of words. 

“He and his friend ran into me when they were trying to shut the shields down. Made me… help. Then they shoved me into a trash compactor.” She said with disgust. “One that wasn’t full, thankfully. While I was down in the lower levels, I found his body. In all the chaos, no one questioned why I was putting a half dead man into a medical pod and moving it to the General’s personal shuttle. Just as I got him loaded on, Hux found me needing to find you.” 

Ben stared up at her, barely believing what he was hearing. After a moment, he… laughed, a shocked, disbelieving kind of half laugh, eyes wet but smiling. “The Force must have been with him in all this. I can’t… believe it.” 

He looked back down to the cold glass and the frozen figure of his father, his hand pressing to the transparent cover of the pod. He suddenly felt more tired than ever before. 

“I don’t know if he’ll actually survive this, but… if we can get him to medical, maybe. Course is set. We can figure out what to do from there. And _you_ can figure out what to do with him.” She said, giving a nod to the silent Hux who stood by, staring down at Ben and the frozen smuggler.

“Yeah…” Ben said, staring up at Hux with large sad brown eyes. “We’ve got some time to figure that one out.”

Hux, still giving the other an unsure look, only nodded in agreement. He’d give him the time at least. 

\----------

Somewhere deep in the planet's core, a light on a long cylinder started to flash. The number ‘006’ illuminated on the chamber. 

A small droid rolled forward on tractor wheels, almost silent in it’s movement. A long spindle arm with a pincher hand reached out to touch dials on a screen next to the cylinder. 

The lights turned from red to green. The liquid in the chamber started to slowly lower. 

On the blue screen beside it, a “99%” flashed, slowly, slowly descending down in numbers as the liquid too slowly lowered. 

By time it reached “0%” a light flashed on in the chamber, illuminating a naked body of a very tall completely hairless man.

A handsome face, a strong build, young, within his thirties. His eyes snapped open and the body gasped, choking and spitting up liquid from inside it’s lungs. As the cylinder doors cracked open with a snap/hiss, the figure of the man tumbled out, falling to the ground before the chamber, coughing and spitting liquid. 

With a long slow gasp, the man hovered there a moment, pulling in air for the first time. 

Lifting his hand he reached out towards a droid. 

Suddenly the droid moved forward through an invisible force hauling it to the man. In a deep crackling voice, broken and horse, the man hissed. “Bring me my robes.” and he let the droid go, lifting his head, yellow eyes staring off past a row of chambers just like the one he left. A row of them filled with bodies of the same size to some smaller. 

“It’s time.”


End file.
